Oklahoma City Thunder end Los Angeles Clippers’ season in Game 6

The Clippers’ Glen Davis puts up a shot under the basket against the Thunders’ Steven Adams in Thursday night’s Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals.
MICHAEL OWEN BAKER — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Clippers’ playoff party that was crashed in the first round by team owner Donald Sterling and his racist comments is over.

It didn’t look like it would be when the Clippers played tremendously for the first quarter or so Thursday night, building a 16-point lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 of their Western Conference semifinal playoff series.

Slowly but surely the tide turned, and the Thunder came back to end L.A.’s season with a 104-98 victory before 19,565 at Staples Center.

Oklahoma City won the series 4-2 and advances to the Western Conference finals against San Antonio.

Not surprisingly, it was the two-headed mnonster of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook who did in the Clippers. Durant made just one of his first seven shots, but finished with 39 points while shooting 12 of 23 from the field. He had 11 of his points in the fourth quarter and also had 16 rebounds. Westbrook started 0 of 6 from the field, but finished with 19 points — 10 in the fourth quarter — on 4-of-15 shooting.

The Clippers trailed 97-86 with 2:27 to play, and pulled within four points with 49.6 seconds left. But there would be no comeback in this one.

Earlier, with L.A. trailing 93-86, Chris Paul was called for an offensive foul after passing off to DeAndre Jordan, who threw down a dunk what was waved off. The next time down the floor, Blake Griffin made a layup but was also called for an offensive foul.

That was four points wiped out. After the call on Paul, Clippers coach Doc Rivers could be seen telling an official, “That was a bad call.”

Paul, whose sloppy play at the end of Game 5 contributed to that loss — as did a controversial call that went against his team — led the Clippers with 25 points and 11 assists. Griffin, who fouled out late, had 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. J.J. Redick scored 16 points.

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The first thing Rivers wanted to do was congratulate OKC.

“I thought they did a terrific job throughout the series, I thought they made big shots down the stretch in a lot of games,” Rivers said. “You just have to give them credit.”

Rivers noticed how high his team was at the start.

“There was a lot of emotion to start the game and I didn’t know if I really liked it,” he said.

All that said, Rivers did not want to use the Sterling saga as a reason why his team did not advance past the Thunder.

“We have gone through a lot of stuff the last three, four weeks and I don’t think that was why we didn’t win,” he said. “I don’t think we should use that as an excuse. ... I believed we were good enough to win it this year. OKC told us we were not.”

Rivers was bummed out about what he saw in his locker room afterward.

“The locker room was not very good in a very sad way,” Rivers said. “Just watching our guys, I just felt like all this stuff they have gone through, they kind of released all their emotions. That was tough for me to see as one of their leaders. I wish I could have done more for them.”

OKC coach Scott Brooks knew his team was in a good spot at halftime, even though Durant and Westbrook had not been themselves. Down 14 late in the half, the Thunder scored the last six points to trail just 50-42 at the break.

“We were only down eight,” Brooks said. “I told them to keep plugging away.”

Brooks was not surprised his team weathered that early storm, one that had the Clippers playing exceptionally well.

“I thought tonight’s game was something that we’ve done all year,” he said. “We have all stuck together and found ways to win.”

The game got off to a weird beginning when Kendrick Perkins of OKC was called for an offensive foul. Barnes must have said something, because he was assessed a technical foul on the same play.

Barnes buried a 3-pointer not long after for a 7-3 Clippers lead. A 17-footer by the Thunder’s Thabo Sefolosha was answered by a 3-pointer from Redick and L.A. was up 10-5.

The Clippers continued to roll, and by the time the first quarter was over they led 30-14. At that point, Durant had all of three points on 1-of-7 shooting.

Jamal Crawford hit a 3-pointer at the outset of the second quarter for a 32-16 Clippers cushion. They still led by 14 points at 41-27 after an 18-foot basket by Redick with 6:05 to play in the half.

Then Durant began to show signs of the greatness that earned him the regular-season MVP award. He made back-to-back 3-pointers to pull his team within 41-33. The Clippers called timeout, but could not score on their next two times down the floor.

Durant hit another 3-pointer to cut his team’s deficit to 41-36.

However, the Clippers pulled themselves together and embarked on a 9-0 run that began with a 3-pointer by Redick and culminated with a dunk by Jordan for a 50-36 Clippers advantage.

Undaunted, OKC finished the half on a 6-0 run, thanks to a basket and two free throws from Reggie Jackson and two free throws by Durant. That meant that instead of taking a double-digit lead into intermission, the Clippers had to settle for an eight-point lead of 50-42.